John Lowell Silk

John Lowell Silk, 74, of Colorado Springs, passed away quietly and peacefully on Monday, February 9, at Pikes Peak Hospice. He was born on December 22, 1951, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Lowell and Velma (née Thompson). His older sister, Mary Ellen, was a loving big sister, and his little brother, Steven, tended to follow his big brother everywhere.

Growing up in the Midwest in the 1950s and '60s, John discovered two of the things he would love for the rest of his life: fishing and hunting. During a trip to Colorado in the winter of '69–'70, he found another love: skiing.

In 1972, he married Kayla Gibson of Indianola, Iowa, and after bouncing around Washington and Ames, Iowa, they headed west to Big Sky, Montana. During the winters in Big Sky, John first worked at Lone Mountain Sports and later became a ski patrolman. In the summertime, he worked on a ranch owned by the FAO Schwarz family. Even though John, Kayla, and their toddler son, Devon (named after his good friend Devon White), moved away in the mid-'80s, he found himself returning to Big Sky many times over the years.

After leaving Montana, John became an airline mechanic for Continental, the company from which he would eventually retire. While with Continental, John traveled not only around the United States, but around the world. No matter where he worked - LAX, DEN, IAH, or internationally at NRT, HKG, GRU, MAN, or TLV - he made friends he would stay in contact with (or try his best to) long after he had left.